A GOP drive to tug Minnesota into their presidential column for the first time in 36 years fell short Tuesday with Democrat Barack Obama's decisive win over John McCain in the state where Republicans held their national convention.

Barack Obama and John McCain went down to the last votes in a state that hadn't backed a Democrat for president since 1976, but in the end the state of North Carolina threw its electoral weight behind the Democratic senator from Illinois.

Democrat Barack Obama captured Washington state's 11 electoral votes Tuesday, part of a dramatic West Coast sweep that cemented the Illinois senator's place as the first black president-elect in American history.

Republican John McCain won North Dakota's three electoral votes for president, dashing the hopes of supporters of Barack Obama, who thought he could be the first Democrat in 44 years to carry the state.